Tour of Azerbaijan (Iran), also known as the Tour of Iranian Azerbaijan or Azerbaijan Tour is an annual multiple stage road bicycle racing held in Iran since 1986, named after Iranian Azerbaijan. It is a UCI 2.1 category race and is part of the UCI Asia Tour.
 | |
| Race details | |
|---|---|
| Date | October |
| Region | Iranian Azerbaijan |
| English name | Tour of Azerbaijan (Iran) |
| Local name(s) | تور دوچرخهسواری بینالمللی آذربایجان (in Persian) |
| Discipline | Road |
| Competition | UCI Asia Tour 2.1 |
| Type | Stage race |
| Organiser | Cycling Federation of the Islamic Republic of Iran |
| Web site | www |
| History | |
| First edition | 1986 |
| Editions | 36 (as of 2023) |
| First winner |  Mohammad Reza Bajoul (IRI) |
| Most wins | Ghader Mizbani (IRI) (7 wins) |
| Most recent | Saeid Safarzadeh (IRI) |
History edit
Tour of Azerbaijan (Iran) established on 1986 by Asghar Khodayari and Akbar Goharkhani with the name of Tour de Urmia Lake. The stages of the tour were modified several times. In 2010 one stage of the tour was held in Nakhichevan, an autonomous republic of Azerbaijan. In 2013 Azerbaijan International Cycling Tour was renamed to Tour of Azerbaijan (Iran).[1]
In 2016 for the first time a cycling team from the United States, Team Illuminate, announced to participate in the race. They said they want to show "how cycling can connect people".[2]
The 32nd edition of the tour rescheduled from May to October to avoid coincidence with Iran's presidential election. The authority of the tour announced that the schedule of the following years will be on May as usual.
In 2020 and 2021 the race was not disputed.
Past winners edit
Multiple winners edit
| Number of wins | Rider | Country | Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | Ghader Mizbani | IRN |
2000, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2013, 2014 |
| 5 | Ahad Kazemi | IRN |
1998, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2009 |
| 3 | Mohammad Reza Bajool | IRN |
1986, 1987, 1988 |
| 2 | Hossein Mahmoudi | IRN |
1989, 1990 |
| Hossein Askari | IRN |
2007, 2008 | |
| Samad Pourseyedi | IRN |
2015, 2016 |
References edit
- ^ "Azerbaijan Tour". Retrieved 12 June 2014.
- ^ "Team Illuminate will be first US squad in Tour of Iran". 27 April 2016.
External links edit
- Official website
- Tour of Azerbaijan palmares at Cycling Archives
- Statistics at the-sports.org
- Azerbaïjan Tour at cqranking.com
- video of 2010 tour